Not Your Average Joe

Not Your Average Joe's, the name of a popular restaurant, is a good lead into this reflection on St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Patron of a Happy Death, and, according to popular belief, an effective partner in the real estate business. What we know of Joseph comes in chapter one of St. Matthew, where we see him struggling with Mary's pregnancy, the persecution of infant boys by King Herod, which occasioned the hasty departure to Egypt, and his return to Nazareth. St. Luke includes him in two scenes, the presentation in the temple, and the finding of Jesus among the priests in the temple twelve years later. From these briefly recorded incidents, we see that as Mary was prepared even before her conception to be the Mother of God, Joseph too, must have been well prepared by God to assume the role of husband and father in the Holy Family. As distressed as any man might be over the surprising pregnancy of his betrothed, we see him in an angonizing disernment, "what to do?" The answer to this and to the other challenges he faced came to him in dreams, a frequent biblical literary device to indicate God's intervention and the answer to prayer. Joseph's faith and trust, his willingness to take risks, suffer uprooting and resettleing several times in order to protect and give his family safety and security, stand out as a template for fathers today, when similar circumstances make demands on contemporary families. His physical strength was necessary to enable him to make these arduous trips, and to work as a successful carpenter, but without his obvious spiritual and inner strength, he would have buckled under the pressures he faced.
As protector par excellence of the Holy Family, it is easy to see him in the role of Patron and Guardian of the Family of the Church, the Body of Christ; we conjecture that Jesus and Mary were at his side when he died; hence he becomes Patron of a Happy Death; and having to relocate several times, he had to know how to find a good house, and, no doubt, a good deal on one, hence our propensity to include him in real-estate sales and purchases by planting his statue at the desired location. Joseph was a good and just man, for whom doing God's will was the primary goal of his life: certainly NOT your average Joe!
Br. Rene